Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) announced plans to invest more than CHF 7.5 million in specialized equipment and facilities to expand the capabilities and capacities for the production of color and additive masterbatches for use in engineering resins and high-temperature plastics like PEEK (polyether ether ketone). The largest investment has been earmarked for plants in Shanghai, Singapore, and at two plants in the U.S.
“Global demand for high-temperature plastics and compatible masterbatches is booming” says Jeff Saeger, who heads the expansion program for Clariant. “Fueled by new products in the automotive, small consumer electronics and electrical markets, the use of engineering materials is growing at annual rates of 7 or 8%, well above the growth rate of the plastics industry as a whole. Clariant has state-of-the-art capabilities in the United States to handle these materials and will now leverage that experience and expertise around the world.”
In Shanghai, where Clariant is implementing the full range of equipment, and procedures required for engineering and high temperature resins, new production lines and associated capabilities will be in place by the end of 2016. In the U.S., the company installed equipment for processing fluoropolymers in Lewiston, Maine, in late 2015, and new lines for specialty engineering compounds and black masterbatch for high-temperature resins will be added in Holden, Mass., beginning in first quarter 2016.
Without high-temperature masterbatches, part producers have only a couple of choices. They can mold the parts in the resin’s natural color and then paint them, or they can use pre-colored compounds. However, Saeger explains, many companies need relatively small quantities of engineering and high temperature materials, making both these methods un-economical or even unavailable. The major resin producers today offer only a narrow range of standard colors and usually will not produce small quantities of special colors. Smaller custom compounders can produce smaller volumes but at higher costs.
The new investments are expected to be especially beneficial to manufacturers of electrical products and appliances, since many of these devices and the components in them contain engineering plastics that need to meet flammability-resistance standards promulgated by Underwriters Laboratories (UL).